Hydrogen Silsequioxane-Derived Si/SiO_<i>x</i> Nanospheres for High-Capacity Lithium Storage Materials

Abstract

Si/SiO_<i>x</i> composite materials have been explored for their commercial possibility as high-performance anode materials for lithium ion batteries, but suffer from the complexity of and limited synthetic routes for their preparation. In this study, Si/SiO_<i>x</i> nanospheres were developed using a nontoxic and precious-metal-free preparation method based on hydrogen silsesquioxane obtained from sol–gel reaction of triethoxysilane. The resulting Si/SiO_<i>x</i> nanospheres with a uniform carbon coating layer show excellent cycle performance and rate capability with high-dimensional stability. This approach based on a scalable sol–gel reaction enables not only the development of Si/SiO_<i>x</i> with various nanostructured forms, but also reduced production cost for mass production of nanostructured Si/SiO_<i>x</i>